M2M — Month to Master
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Over the next 12 months, starting on December 1st, I will be taking part in testing monthly challenges. How many will I complete?
Here is the list of challenges:
- December (Memory) : Memorise a deck of playing cards in under 4 minutes
→ Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4 - December (Fitness) : Complete one continuous set of 100 push-ups
→ Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4 - January (Design & Coding): Design & code a web app
- February (Design & Coding) : Design & code a web app
- March (Animation) : Make a 2 min animation in After Effects *or* animate fully a project in my online portfolio
- April (Design) : Write a public blog post about an aspect of design every other day
- May (Art) : Draw a realistic self-portrait
- June (Gymnastics) : Land an unassisted backflip
- July (Languages) : Hold a 20min conversation in Spanish about the future of design engineering
- August (Cryptocurrency) : Learn about trading and invest in cryptocurrencies/stocks
- September (Fitness) : Complete one continuous set of 30 pull-ups
- October (Wine Tasting) : Understand how it’s made, how to taste and enjoy it, what to look for when buying and how food pairings work
- November (Dancing) : TBD
Q #1: Why are you doing this?
The inspiration behind this initiative was a Medium article I came across by Max Deutsch, in which he set out (and then completed!) a year-long commitment trying to master twelve expert-level skills.
I recently finished my Design Engineering Masters at Imperial College London and while figuring out my next steps, I realised there were several projects/skills I would like to learn about and improve in.
This challenge seems like a great way to achieve this, combining incremental growth with the accountability of a public commitment.
Q #2: How did you select the challenges?
I have chosen specific challenges designed to take me out of my comfort zone and target areas or disciplines that I want to discover and/or build upon.
These range from building mental models for memorising the order of a shuffled deck of cards, coding a functional app, to landing an unassisted backflip.
Q #3: Are you expecting to be able to complete all the challenges
I’d be surprised if I did — I’ve tried to select challenges well past my current level. Right now I would deem completing 8 out of 12 challenges a success. However, regardless of the final number, I’m confident I’ll enjoy the process, learn some new skills and come out at the other end feeling great.
Q #4: How much time per day will you be setting aside for this project?
Between job applications (and hopefully job starting!), working on my online portfolio, freelance work, seeing friends & family and sports, I estimate I will be able to commit on average 1 hr to 1 hr 30 mins per day to this project — although I anticipate some challenges — such as building a web app— will require more time.
Q #5: How often will you be posting about your M2M progress?
I will be posting one article per week, where I’ll write about my progress, struggles, methodologies, things I learn along the way, outcome and other things I find interesting (hopefully you will too!).
All new posts will be published to this medium account, titled ‘M2M’ (for Month to Master) and the week.
Q #6: Now what?
*Drum roll*- Tomorrow, I’ll be kickstarting this project with an exciting double challenge. Memorising a shuffled deck of playing cards in under 4 minutes & completing 100 consecutive pushups.
If you have any ideas for a monthly challenge or any experience in the above challenges, let me know — these are not set in stone and I’d consider swapping/tweaking challenges.
If you’re interested in following along with this project, make sure to follow this Medium account for weekly updates.
Here we go…
